Dinopedia:Tyrannosaurus rex
Tyrannosaurus rex (ty-RAN-o-sawr-us) meaning "tyrant lizard king" because of its size, large teeth and claws (Greek tyrannos = tyrant + sauros = lizard + rex = king), also known colloquially as T. rex and The King of the Dinosaurs, was a giant carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Upper Maastrichtian, the last stage of the Cretaceous period, 65–66 million years ago. Its fossil remains are relatively rare; as of 2005 only 30 specimens had been found, including three complete skulls. The first specimens found played an important role in the Bone Wars. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids.It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. The Tyrannosaurus is probably the most well-known dinosaur, ranging from toys to television shows. It is celebrated as the "King of Dinosaurs" however, not being so because there were many carnivourus dinosaurus that were bigger and sometimes more powerful. In 1892, Edward Cope described the first known Tyrannosaurus skeleton as Manospondylus, this is considered a Nomen oblitum. Barnum Brown's 1900 discovery of "Dynamosaurus imperiosus," now called Tyrannosaurus rex, Tyrannosaurus' type species. He found two more specimens, in 1902 and 1905. ''Tarbosaurus'' was at one point considered a second species of Tyrannosaurus, but was later reclassified. But t-rex was not the biggest or strongest, spinosaurus was the biggest carnivore dinosaur ever discovered, as second thought giganotosaurus was right behind spinosaurus. Giganotosaurus is bigger then t-rex but smaller then spinosaurus. In Jurassic Park ||| the spinosaurus defeats the t-rex. But this was not realistic because recent studies have led scientists to think that spinosaurus was less powerful and designed more for hunting fish than for killing large land animals but would still contend for remains of carcases with such dinosaurs as Carcharodontosaurus which lived at the same time as Spinosaurus. Skin and feathers In 2004, the scientific journal Nature published a report describing an early tyrannosauroid, Dilong paradoxus, from the famous Yixian Formation of China. As with many other theropods discovered in the Yixian, the fossil skeleton was preserved with a coat of filamentous structures which are commonly recognized as the precursors of feathers. It has also been proposed that Tyrannosaurus and other closely related tyrannosaurids had such protofeathers. However, skin impressions from large tyrannosaurid specimens show mosaic scales.While it is possible that protofeathers existed on parts of the body which have not been preserved, a lack of insulatory body covering is consistent with modern multi-ton mammals such as elephants, hippopotamus, and most species of rhinoceros. As an object increases in size, its ability to retain heat increases due to its decreasing surface area-to-volume ratio. Therefore, as large animals evolve in or disperse into warm climates, a coat of fur or feathers loses its selective advantage for thermal insulation and can instead become a disadvantage, as the insulation traps excess heat inside the body, possibly overheating the animal. Protofeathers may also have been secondarily lost during the evolution of large tyrannosaurids like Tyrannosaurus, especially in warm Cretaceous climates. Tyrannosaurus There has been ongoing debate as to how T. rex found its food. Most people believe it was a predator, hunting down and killing its food in the same way lions do. However, some believe it was a scavenger, as evidenced by its large olfactory bulbs (which indicate a phenomenal sense of smell). The best possible conclusion is that Tyrannosaurus was both a predator and a scavenger, depending on what happened around the Tyrannosaurus. The reason for this conclusion is that it's huge size makes it hungry most of the time. For example, if a Tyrannosaurus ran into a Triceratops carcass, It would eat it because it is easier when you don't have to work for your food. The concept that makes T-rex so deadly is that it had huge jaws that had banana sized teeth. This made Tyrannosaurus different from most predators. These teeth helped to crush bone. The average bite force of Tyrannosaurus Rex astounded scientists when they used calculations from crocodile bite forces to find out that Tyrannosaurus had a bite force of 3 tons(5,000 lbs) to 900,000 tons(? lbs). This tremendous amount of force is enough to bite through a steel oil drum. One theory is that Tyrannosaurs had a mouth full of deadly bacteria other than its bone-crushing pair of jaws which helped it kill prey. This could have been possible if you consider the predatory theory. Also Tyrannosaurs could probably use hunting tactics which required lunging at prey from short distances and then crushing them with its jaws.It also could break bones with it's tail,teeth and claws Taxonomy Tyrannosaurus has numerous relatives. ''Daspletosaurus'', ''Albertosaurus'', and ''Tarbosaurus'', are all apart of the Tyrannosaur family. The earliest known Tyrannosaurs were actually small hunters. Of all it's relatives, ''Daspletosaurus'' is believed to be the direct ancestor of T- rex, ''due to its very similar appearance. The skull of a small tyrannosaur, Nanotyrannus, found in North or South Dakota, was later proved to be from an adolescent T.rex. Trivia *Paleontologist James Farlow calculated the number of lawyers a grown ''Tyrannosaurus had to eat (based on a scene from the movie Jurassic Park, in which a lawyer became T. rex fodder) to stay alive. Taken an average weight of 68 kilograms, 292 lawyers would be needed to keep one T. rex happy for a year! *There is a Yugioh card called "Two headed king rex", this makes no sense because if it is all translated it is "Two headed king king" Popular Culture Tyrannosaurus rex is probably the most famous of dinosaurs. It shown in almost all recent movies involving dinosaurs. Its first appearance in the moves was in the 1925 film The Lost World ''where two were seen battling a ''Ceratops ''(Do not edit that to say ''Triceratops. It's correct.) It also played an important role in the movie Jurassic Park ''where it killed a lawyer and two ''Deinonychus. It also appeared in the movies sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park. ''In this movie it ramaged an unsespecting San Diego. It later appeared in the third sequel ''Jurassic Park 3. here a sub-adult male Tyrannosaurus killed a Parasaurolophus and battled and was killed by a sub-adult Spinosaurus. It also starred in an episode of reknown documentary series Walking With Dinosaurs. It also appeared in several episodes of the well known documentary Jurassic Fight Club. Gallery Trexprofile.jpg|A Tyrannosaurus profile. Tyrannosaurus rex.jpg|Tyrannosaurus standing in a pond. Tyrannosaurus_3D_Model.jpg|3D model of Tyrannosaurus. Tyrannosaurus rex.gif Tyrannosaurus vs Spinosaurus.jpg|Tyrannosaurus vs. Spinosaurus images.jpeg ﻿ Category:Theropods Category:Tyrannosaurids Category:Dinosaurs of North America Category:Primeval Category:Zoo Tycoon Dinosaur Digs Creatures Category:Large Carnivores Category:Saurischians Category:Saurischia Category:Tyrannosaurs Category:Apex predators